1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stack of recording sheets for performing a recording operation by use of recording sheets formed of coated paper, and to a method of maintaining a recording apparatus during the recording operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
A recording apparatus has hitherto been known which employs a paper feeding method utilizing means for contacting the recording surfaces of stacked recording sheets so as to feed them to a recording unit.
FIG. 4 shows an example of such a recording apparatus. Numeral 1 denotes a paper feed tray. A paper feed roller 3, serving as an example of a paper feed means, has the shape of one half of a cylinder, and is rotated counterclockwise, contacting the surfaces of recording sheets 2 stacked on the paper feed tray 1, and feeds them onto a platen 9.
When two or more recording sheets are erroneously fed simultaneously, a separation pad 4, which serves as a separation means, comes into contact with the bottom surface of the lower misfed recording sheet 2, utilizing frictional force between the pad 4 and the bottom surface to separate these sheets so that only a single sheet is fed onto pattern 9.
The recording sheet 2 is fed by carrying roller 5 to an ink jet recording head 6 of a recording unit, where an image is recorded. It is fed by a paper discharge roller 7 to a paper discharge tray 8, where it is stacked.
In an inkjet process, particularly in a full-color inkjet process in which many different color inks are utilized to perform a recording operation, coated paper has been used as recording sheets since it has a coated layer which includes a pigment on a base material. The reason for this is that in the inkjet process coloration and absorption of the ink are excellent, and thus clear images can be formed. However, after a large number of such recording sheets are fed to the above recording apparatus, poor feeding of recording sheets occurs.